Gov’t To Expand Business Incubator Services This Year

Minister of State in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Floyd Green, says the Government will be expanding incubator spaces for the small business sector this year.

“We have to bring these [services] closer to the people. I have already tasked the Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC) team to work with the Factories Corporation of Jamaica. We have identified some possible spaces in rural Jamaica, and this year, we will definitely expand our incubator cohort,” he added.

The State Minister was addressing the closing ceremony for the JBDC’s Design Fusion Programme held at the agency’s Incubator and Resource Centre in Kingston on Wednesday (January 29).

The three-month programme, held from October to December 2019, targeted emerging fashion and gift and craft designers. The participants benefited from training and coaching to hone their craft and produce quality products for the marketplace.

Among areas covered were product development, business development, financial literacy and marketing support.

The objective is to provide an opportunity for participants to develop their entrepreneurial skills and business acumen, allowing them to be more competitive, to employ best practices as it relates to managing a small business, develop a design identity and use the appropriate marketing tools.

During the closing exercise, the 24 entrepreneurs, who successfully completed the programme, showcased their products and received certificates in the areas of fashion, interior design and accessories.

Mr. Green, in noting the quality of the items on display, said he wants to see the entrepreneurs benefiting from the Jamaica Promotions Corporation’s (JAMPRO) Export Max Programme, through which small and medium-sized enterprises receive assistance in growing their export sales.

The State Minister lauded the JBDC for its work in the development of small businesses and reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to invest in the creative industry and ensuring that it thrives.
“We are working with the JBDC and the British Council to do our baseline study on our creative industry, to ensure that we can say, for the first time in our history, what the contribution of our creatives to our economy is.

“If you want to speak about investing in an industry, you have to be able to say what that industry contributes and how much your investment will pay,” he noted.